• .

  • 

  • foot binding . . . old sames . . . Excellent! . . . a female version of The Kite Runner because of the betrayal by one childhood friend of another, and just as heart-rending.

    

    Is this helpful?

• ― Missmath144 said on Aug 31, 2008 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

• .

  • 

  • Interesting story about life in China, plus about how to be a good friend. Very detailed about foot binding and it was all much more gruesome than I could have imagined.

    

    Is this helpful?

• ― Deanna Kyre said on Apr 13, 2008 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

• .

  • Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

  • A heart-wrenching story of friendship between two ladies in 19th century China. The author did a wonderful job of bringing not only her characters to life but also painting a picture of the life of a woman in traditional Chinese society.

    

    Is this helpful?

• ― Readingrat said on Feb 23, 2008 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

• .

  • 

  • This was a moving book about friendship and how different perceptions can affect it. I also learned a lot about women's lives and customs in 19th century rural China.

    

    Is this helpful?

• ― krin5292 said on Jan 23, 2008 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

Lily is haunted by memories–of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness.

In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication: nu shu (“women’s writing”). Some girls were paired with laotongs, “old sames,” in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.

With the arrival of a silk fan on which Snow Flower has composed for Lily a poem of introduction in nu shu, their friendship is sealed and they become “old sames” at the tender age of seven. As the years pass, through famine and rebellion, they reflect upon their arranged marriages, loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their lifelong friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. With the period detail and deep resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships: female friendship.

Groups with this in collection

50 Book Challenge! (300)

Eclectic Book Club (100)

Historical Fiction Lovers (111)

• foot bindingBooks I Want to ReadChinaMy favoritesfebruary2008LT ReadYALitfriendshipHighly Recommendliterary fiction
• See all (19)